Published 7:37 pm, Thursday, April 24, 2014

Laura Burns, the association's CEO, blamed the cold snowy weather for much of the drop.

Mortgage rates also edged higher. New listings, which would expand inventory, dropped by 9 percent. And the recovery has been sluggish, with public sector job cuts nearly offsetting private sector job gains.

Nationally, sales of existing homes were soft in March, although they posted an increase in the Northeast, the National Association of Realtors reported earlier this week. New home sales fell by 14.5 percent, according to the Census Bureau.

One bright spot in the Capital Region: the median sale price, at which half the houses sold for more and half for less, was up 2 percent to $189,900, its highest point for March in recent years. Burns said sellers were getting 92 percent of their original list price, on average.

Sales in March were off 14 percent in Albany County, 26 percent in Rensselaer County, 15 percent in Saratoga County, and 9 percent in Schenectady County.

The median price was up 8 percent in Albany County to $209,000; it was flat in Rensselaer County at $177,550; it was up 4 percent in Saratoga County to $265,000; and it was flat in Schenectady County at $150,000.